Brothertown Hymnody Part Four: Christ, Community, and Cultural Expression

Singing was a long-standing, communal tradition amongst our ancestors and was one area where they had excelled, even over their white European neighbors.  While the tone, range of voice and meter in which they sang were unique and pleasing, there was a fourth element to this Indian hymnody which was just as important; its depth of feeling.   Brothertown hymnody centered on Christ and, couched within the edifying bonds of their community, also became a way to express the strong clash of emotions that swirled around their Native American heritage.  These strong emotions, coupled with their technical abilities, elicited strong superlative responses from those who heard the Brotherton Indians sing.

 

For a song to be truly beautiful and touch the heart of a listener it must first touch the heart of the singer; it must be rooted in conviction, feeling and emotion.  In the preface to his 1774 hymnal, Samson Occom claimed that there were 2 parts to singing: the “outward form” and the “inward part”.  He said, “To sing without the spirit, (though with good method) is like the sound of a musical instrument without life.”  For Occom and the Christian Indians, singing was first, a way to express their strong belief in and love of God and to worship and praise Him.  While they were called and responded to Christ as individuals they also responded to Him as a community.  As members of the same Brothertown Tribe they had a long history together.  They had suffered, moved, travelled, rebuilt lives and homesteads, and endured many things.  Assured of the love of their God and within these familial bonds of community they became free to express the Native American angst that touched them so deeply.

Despite the inculcation of the strong and persistent centuries old anti-Indian stance of society, the Brotherton always held a very deep love for their kinsmen and had a great longing to see their Tribe, and all Native Americans, endure and prosper.  This is very clear in an 1854 letter of Thomas Commuck to the Wisconsin Historical Society.  He wrote a brief “Sketch of the Brothertown Indians” and told of the sorrows and trials of our ancestors and of how he feared the loss of their memory as he contemplated, what seemed to him, the extinction of Brothertown “in another generation” or so.  Toward the end of this letter he said, “Here we have taken our last stand, as it were, and are resolved to meet manfully, that overwhelming tide of fate, which seems destined, in a few short years, to sweep the Red Man from the face of existence. The thought is a sad and gloomy one, but the fiat seems to have gone forth, and we must submit (14).”  That he loved his Tribe and people is without question.  Not only is it apparent in this letter, but also in the tune book he published in 1845 in which nearly every title bears the name of a Native American tribe or individual.

That their singing was unique and superior to others we can understand from the several superlative critiques that have survived.  One of these comes from an itinerant preacher who journeyed to Brothertown in 1844 and noted in his diary, “I was not a stranger to good singing, for my surroundings had always been fortunate in this particular, but, I am free to say, that, up to that hour, my ears had never been so thrilled by Christian melody. The tones were not as mellow as those of the African, but they were more deep and thrilling. Inclined rather to a high key, and disposed to be sharp and piercing, yet the voices of the vast congregation swept through every note of the gamut with equal freedom. I was thoroughly entranced….  The singing, however, was the principal feature, both in quantity and quality, for this highly susceptible people had given this part of the services, in all their meetings, a leading place. Among the most noted leading voices were those of mine host, Alonzo D. Dick, Jeremiah Johnson, Orrin Johnson, and Thomas Cummock (15).”

The depth of feeling that the Brothertons poured into their music was both a praise of God and an outlet through which they could safely express their personal and Native American hopes, joys, sorrows, fears, and angst.  The strength of these feelings both released a beauty into their singing and also became the very thing that caused hymnody to remain a vital and enduring part of the Brothertown community.

……………….to be continued

 

(14)Commuck, Thomas.  “Sketch of the Brothertown Indians.”  Wisconsin Historical Collections 4.

(15)Miller, Wesson Gage. Thirty Years in the Itinerancy p36-37.

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Brothertown Hymnody Part Three: Moor’s Indian Charity School and the Brothertown Founding Fathers

Hymn singing was a part of the education that the future Brothertown founders received at Eleazar Wheelock’s Moor’s Indian Charity School.  Samson Occom, brothers David Fowler and Jacob Fowler, and Joseph Johnson all attended this school prior to their missionary work and the forming of Brothertown.   Not only did our ancestors practice three part singing at Wheelock’s school but they also relied on it to engage and teach their own Native students.

In 1764, a Boston merchant by the name of John Smith visited Moor’s Indian Charity School and described his visit:  “I reached his house a little before the Evening Sacrafice & was movingly touched on giving out the Psalm to hear an Indian Youth set the time & the others following him, & singing the tenor, and base, with remarkable gravity (5).”

In Thomas Hastings: An Introduction to His Life and Music, Hermine Weigel Williams asserts that the Indian Charity School, “…curriculum emphasized singing in three parts and this type of singing was transferred to other communities when graduates of the school left Lebanon (p 2).”

Samson Occom (Mohegan) was the first Indian graduate of the school.   Soon after, he went to Montauk and spent  12 years teaching and preaching there.  In his short autobiography Occom wrote, “Sabbath morning we…begin with singing; we generally sung Dr. Watt’s Psalms or hymns.  I distinctly read the Psalm or hymn first, and then gave the meaning of it to them, after that sing, then pray, and sing again after prayer. ..So continued with prayer and singing in the afternoon and evening.  We proceed in the same manner and to in Wednesday evening(6).”

Another Brothertown founder and missionary, David Fowler (Montauk), wrote a letter to Wheelock from Oneida dated June 15, 1765 saying, “I am also teaching a singing School: they take great Pleasure in learning to sing: We can already carry three Parts of several Tunes.”(7)

David Fowler’s brother, Jacob, mentioned his own singing school in a letter to Eleazar Wheelock dated November 28, 1766.  “My scholars are all well, and learn well, and some of them learns very fast.   We have got the Indians so we can sing good many tunes with all three parts (8).”

Joseph Johnson (Mohegan), a fourth founding father, mentioned his singing classes numerous times.  In a letter to Wheelock dated February 10, 1768, from Oneida territory, he said, “I would also Enform you that I keep Singing School every Evening very full meetings. two of my Scholars are married men, one is Old Enough for my father. they all Learn very fast both Singing & Reading.”(9)

In the early 1770’s, when he lived and taught amongst the Tunxis Indians of Farmington, CT, Johnson noted in his diary, the “Singing Meetings” which he held there (10).  On November 27, 1772 he wrote to Wheelock that they’d, “…decided to have singing meetings twice a wekk…tues and Friday(11).”  In December, he mentioned that he had made 3 “gamuts” of singing books(12).  On January 30, 1773 he wrote, “My challenge is this that they excel this tribe in singing, the Musical Art.”(13)

Occom, the Fowlers, Johnson, and all of the missionaries who had attended the Charity School in Connecticut had practiced singing and learned new hymns while they were students there.   After graduating, they used hymn singing themselves to engage and teach their own Native “scholars”.  Singing, for the Brothertown founders however, was not simply a tool of conversion or an enjoyable way to engage their students, it was something that held a much deeper meaning for them and out-endured the missionaries themselves as well as their “scholars”.

…..to be continued

(5)DeLoss Love, William.  Samson Occom and the Christian Indians of New England, p 80

(6) Brooks, Joanna.  The Collected Writings of Samson Occom, Mohegan, p 56

(7)McCallum, James.  The Letters of Eleazar Wheelock’s Indians, p 94

(8)Ibid p. 117

(9) Murray, Linda.  To Do Good To My Indian Brethren, p 67

(10) Ibid

(11) Ibid p153

(12) Ibid p155

(13) Ibid p165

Courtney Cottrell To Speak to Calumet County Historical Society this Monday (4/17/17)

Courtney Cottrell’s talk on the Brothertown Indians, hosted by the Calumet County Historical Society, has been rescheduled for Monday April 17 at 6pm CT.  The event will be held at the Chilton Public Library and is free and open to the public.  Please make plans to attend.

If you live hundreds or thousands of miles away, don’t despair.  The presentation is scheduled to be broadcast in real time via Zoom!  Log in details have been posted at the Brothertown Facebook page or you may also contact me here to request login information.   Anyone interested in Brothertown is welcome to attend.

 

Brothertown Hymnody Part Two: Native American Singing in Colonial America

Native Americans in New England were no strangers to singing.  Song and dance had been a part of their culture for at least hundreds, if not thousands, of years.   Missionaries to New England used this to their advantage.  They taught the Indians about God and Christianity, in part, through the singing of hymns and then documented their astonishing ability to retain these hymns, adapt them to the “Indian meter”, and then sing them back in their own unique manner.

In an 1845 publication, Thomas Commuck made the claim that the Narragansett Indian tune “Old Indian Hymn”, “was heard in the air by them and other tribes bordering on the Atlantic Coast, many years before the arrival of whites in America.”  He says that “on their first visiting a church in the Plymouth Colony, after the settlement of that place by the whites [1620], the same tune was sung while performing divine service, and the Indians knew it as well as the whites. “(4)

In her book, American Lazarus: Religion and the Rise of African American and Native American Literatures, Joanna Brooks says, “Native Americans especially were positioned to make a significant contribution to the development of American hymnody, as they were better-educated and more versatile singers than many of their Anglo-American contemporaries.  From the time of colonization, psalmody and hymnody were staples of Native-missionary interaction.  In 1661, John Eliot produced an Algonkuin-language Psalter; later Cotton Mather praised Eliot-affiliated Indians as “Notable singers” who excelled over his own “English Assemblies (p64).”

Importantly, Brooks goes on to explain how Native Americans, rather than merely singing tunes exactly as they were taught them, shaped and adapted them and made them their own.  Even as far back as 1651, someone visiting John Eliot and the Naticks wrote, “There was a psalme sung in the Indian tongue, and Indian meteer, but to an English tune (p65-66).”

In the 1740’s, Azariah Horton ministered to the Indians of Long Island.  Page 124 of The Unkechaug Indians of Eastern Long Island: A History by John Strong, reads, “Other Protestant missionaries [in addition to Horton] also used hymn singing as a catalyst to engage the Indians.  Even the Calvinists introduced music in their missionary services (Cowing, 1972, 84-85).  The Calvinist singing style, notes Kathleen Bragdon, was similar in some ways to traditional Indian music.  The psalms were sung in unison, without musical instruments, and had very little inner structure, a style that ‘resembled traditional native music in brevity, simplicity of rhythmic organization’ (Bragdon 1991, 121-22).  The emphasis on hymn singing undoubtedly provided a cultural connection, which encouraged Indians to become involved in Christian worship services. “

There are many more examples that show a long continuity of missionaries engaging Indians in the New England area through something they already enjoyed and which they could relate to and adapt; singing.   Moor’s Indian Charity School was yet another place where the Algonquin Indians had a chance to practice this long-standing tradition.

……to be continued

(4) Commuck, Thomas.  Indian Melodies, p 63.

A Wonderful Brothertown Indian Hymnody Presentation by Gabriel Kastelle

Many thanks to Mr. Gabriel Kastelle for the wonderful presentation he gave this past Sunday evening (April 9, 2017)!  Mr Kastelle spoke to us on the importance and endurance of Brothertown hymnody from Samson Occom’s 1774 hymnal to Thomas Commuck’s 1845 Indian Melodies.   Mr. Kastelle has done an impressive amount of independent research on Brothertown, our founders and our ancestral tribal histories.  This research, together with his musical degrees and long time involvement in shape note singing make Mr. Kastelle uniquely qualified to recognize, understand, and address  the many intricacies involved in the presenting and “re-remembering” of this important part of Brothertown culture.   I must also add that Gabriel Kastelle’s enormous respect and deep reverence for our Brothertown founders, history and the travails of our people make his presentation all that much more compelling.   Interspersed throughout the talk you will find several examples of Commuck’s tunes played on the violin.    You can view the full presentation on Brothertown Forward’s YouTube channel.

 

 

Upcoming Events and News Reports

There are a number of upcoming opportunities for the Brothertown people to engage in events, presentations and discussions.  Here they are in date order:

Sunday, April 9^th, 7CT/8ET Brothertown Forward is hosting a talk online using the Zoom platform.  The speaker is Gabriel Kastelle and the topic is Brothertown Hymnody from Samson Occom through Thomas Cummuck.  You can listen in and participate from your PC, tablet, smartphone or landline.  Please contact me or click here for more information:  https://brothertownforward.wordpress.com/

Monday, April 17^th, 6CT/7ET Brothertown’s own Courtney Cottrell will be speaking to Calumet County Historical Society at the Chilton Public library.  If you are able to attend in person, please support this event.  If distance does not permit, it is hoped that the presentation can still be made available on the Brothertown Forward Zoom platform.   For further information on the Historical Society please visit CalumetCountyHistoricalSociety.org

Saturday, May 20^th, is the date for the annual Brothertown Indian Nation elections.  Be sure to vote at the BINCC or return your absentee ballot by mail.  Word has it that election information will be mailed out to all eligible voters next week.  Please remember to call the office with any address updates.

While the date has yet to be set, Joanna Brooks, author of The Collected Writings of Samson Occom, Mohegan, has agreed to do a live online presentation for Brothertown Forward!!!  Stay tuned for more details.

Finally, the first annual Brothertown powwow was held at the BINCC this past Saturday.  Judging from the pictures and comments, a great time was had by all.  Click here to watch a brief video clip of the event presented by the Fond du Lac Reporter:  http://www.fdlreporter.com/videos/news/2017/04/01/brothertown-indian-nation-1st-annual-pow-wow/99926504/

Please feel free to leave comments or contact me for more information on any of the above events.